Fastlane Metadata Format

The Fastlane metadata format is a directory convention originated by Fastlane's supply action for organizing Google Play listing content on disk. One directory per locale, one text file per field.

metadata/
  en-US/
    title.txt
    short_description.txt
    full_description.txt
    video.txt
    images/
      icon/
      featureGraphic/
      phoneScreenshots/
  fr-FR/
    ...

Why it matters

The Fastlane metadata format is the de facto standard for Android app metadata stored in a repository. Thousands of existing projects already have their listings organized this way. Any tool that wants to be drop-in compatible with the Fastlane ecosystem reads and writes this format.

For teams migrating from Fastlane to another tool, format compatibility is the difference between a one-afternoon migration and a week-long rewrite of their metadata directory.

How GPC handles it

GPC reads and writes the Fastlane metadata format natively.

Download all listings from Play Store into a local directory:

gpc listings pull --dir metadata/

Upload local changes back to Play Store:

gpc listings push --dir metadata/

Sync images:

gpc listings images upload --lang en-US --type phoneScreenshots ./screens/*.png

If you have an existing Fastlane metadata directory from fastlane supply init, GPC works with it unchanged. The directory layout, filename conventions, and field names are all identical.

Common issues

• Locale directory mismatch — Play Store locales use BCP 47 (en-US, fr-FR, pt-BR). Fastlane sometimes used older codes (en_US). GPC reads both and normalizes to BCP 47 on write.
• Images exceeding Play Store limits — gpc preflight checks image dimensions and counts against Play Store specs.
• Missing required fields — if a locale is missing title.txt or short_description.txt, Play Store rejects the listing. gpc listings push --dry-run surfaces the missing files before committing.

Related

• gpc listings — all metadata commands
• Store Listings & Screenshots Guide — end-to-end metadata workflow
• Migrate from Fastlane — switching from Fastlane supply
• AAB — what you upload alongside the metadata